I've Converted.

I am forsaking my ways as a PC owner and user and converted to the ways of a MAC.  I bought my first ever Apple computer, the iMac, after being swayed by their clever marketing schemes, eventually, abrading my freewill and convincing me there are no other alternatives unless of course I actually like hitting ctrl-alt-delete every 20 mins and rebooting my computer while losing every ounce of work I just did just so I could spend another 20 mins redoing it.  PC must think I need the practice.

So here I am, exploring Safari and the wonders of iLife.  I took my first One-on-One class today and felt like a complete idiot.  I kept expecting to hear at least 4 to 5 steps I would need to complete a task but kept getting told... "just drag and drop".  Seriously?  That's it? Well then, how do I delete this then?  "Just hit delete Ma'am" (okay, so I threw the Ma'am in, but just for effect).  So simple that I couldn't get it.

I mean, we're talking YEARS on a PC (coz I'm so old...); everything's complicated.  I can take one of those babies apart, and put it all back together, run it smoothly for ohhh, maybe a day or two before I was searching for the Task Manager.

Well, the commercials got me.  I caved.  And boy, am I ever kicking myself for not doing this a heck of a lot sooner.  But before I get too giddy, I DID just get this thing so right now it's purring like a kitten.  Well, a kitten that's getting scratched by a monkey maybe.  (Read: I'm the monkey).  There's definitely a learning curve.  Apple may be simple but I'm old and stuck in my ways.  Looking for this here and that there only to find out now I don't need it.  What's a PC girl to do?

So now I sit trying to reorganize about 8-10 thousand photos and reorganize every document and zip file, convert what converts and cry as I toss those that don't after searching aimlessly on Safari and Google for apps and downloads that can make this ride a little smoother.  Setting up Wi-fi, Time Capsules, my printer, external drives, and letting Ethan play his first real computer game...Sesame Street First Steps.  He loves it.  But as my husband said... "Now look what you did.  He'll always want to be on the computer."  ~sigh~ He takes after his mama.

I'm still trying to figure this gadget out and pics are sitting in limbo.  That's frustrating me more than anything right now but if this thing lives up to the hype, it shouldn't be long before I'm up and running a mile.

So long PC. 

Spider Babies

Warning, if you have arachnophobia, scroll away. These little guys spotted my eye as I was walking in the door. They were dangling nicely from a plant stand (with no plant, go figure) in their egg sack. I grabbed my camera and as I was snapping their photo, they began to uncurl and make their move into the big, wide world. They were spreading fast, and they were a little too close to my front door for my comfort. So my manly, man moved them to the nearest tree and we watched them quickly explore their new treehouse. Amazing little guys.

Sunny Days of Summer

Okay, you can call me a liar. I said I would blog and I’ve been negligent. But in my defense, I think I have had one of THEE best summers with my family. Camping trips, farm trips, carnivals, parades, baking, gardening (okay, I’ve neglected that too recently ~sigh~), and of course photography.

My photography has taken off. Although I still consider myself a total newbie at this, I have really enjoyed every single opportunity I have had to get creative and try to master my skills. And then I call Hope and dolefully complain that I think I buggered something up. Somehow my confidence always gets restored and then I go off to snap better pics. So a shout out to my pedagogue but more to my friends and customers of PixelPie for giving me a phenomenal start and handing out the encouragement. Oh, yes and the gorgeous flowers I received put me over the edge of “Wow, thanks.”

Just to prove that I haven’t been slacking, here are some pics of celebrating Canada Day, A trip to the farm, and some of Edmonton’s festivities, Capital Ex. Yeah, I know. 3 slideshows in a row. But I'm trying to play catch-up.

OH CANADA!




FUN FARM DAYS




A FUNNY FARM

A Whirlwind of Activity

Wow, things have been literally crazy around here. A total whirlwind. I haven't forgotten about this blog, lol, actually quite the opposite. I have so much to write and so many stories but it all has to wait! We're off camping again!

I'm really enjoying this summer. We've spent a lot of time together doing family things everything from camping trips to playing at the park and enjoying the events of Edmonton, which has been fantastic and in between times, my photography has taken the leap forward; portrait sessions, and my first wedding that I just completed last night! I am dying to process pics but apparently I'm only allowed 10 before I leave on vacation. Thbbbbbbbt!


My computer's still giving me grief so I'm waiting on my new iMac! Yippe! Hopefully I can learn it fairly fast so I'm not put behind any further.

My kids are growing like weeds too. I've been dealing with a temper tantrum/no nap phase from Ethan lately and would love, LOVE, any tips to speed this phase up. It's exhausting. It amazes me how long they can last, even when Glen and I try to be very consistent with him and not give any extra attention. While Ethan is all out wailing, and Glen and I are curling are toes, the clock is ticking down the hour, two hours, two and a half.... yeesh. Toddlers are so intense.

Daysha has started food and she is lovin' it! Give her the spoon and she has a blast! lol, what a mess but so much fun! So far, she has loved every fruit and veggie that we've tried her with. I thought Ethan was a good eater but I think Daysha wins. She is all smiles now that she's a big girl!

Anyway, I'm off to pack! Hope you're enjoying your summer too!

Here are a few pics from some backyard summer fun when my niece came over to play.

Giants are Standing on my Shoulders

I burned my arm on my oven the other day while trying to bake a pizza that couldn’t be baked. It was friggen painful. And now it’s itching beyond belief. But it’s minor. And part of me appreciates the annoying stinging sensation. It reminds me that I’m human and for many reasons, this small burn on my arm has humbled me.

Somehow my personality screams, “I can do it! I’ll help you! Let me find out for you! I’ll be there! Depend on me!” I widen my shoulders, sit straight as a die, hold the pose and start problem solving. I’m tough. I’m strong. I’m stubborn. I can handle it. Throw it my way and I’ll forsake my own needs and step in your Crocs; walk your path for a while. Perhaps my needs are to take it all on. Maybe extreme but somehow, no matter the history lessons I have learned, I still get that Feeling that I should help because it’s what I do.

“Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism.” – Sigmund Freud

So as it is, I give myself away. I’m smarter about it now and I no longer feel the responsibility that I use to attach to it. I give myself the option of choosing what I do and how much of “me” I can give. Whether you consider that “smart” or not is irrelevant because for me, it’s how I manage. I say “I can’t” when I cannot. I say “I can” when I cannot and when I can. Make sense? It’s the Feeling that I always should that’s hard to shake as well as everyone that knocks on my door or calls my phone.

I do a lot for my friends because I love my friends. They give me energy. I enjoy doing what I can for them and to let them know that I really do care. I do the same for my family. But family always brings a different level of energy. It’s the trust, I think, that is unconsciously there, that permits repercussions to surface. "If I don’t do it, then ____”, “I really should because they are family and they did ____ for me” etc.

There have been so many things brought to my doorstep as of late and I am feeling the need to help in as many areas as I can. But there is so much out of my control and my reach. There are too many mountains to move and seas to part. My love is there but all I am capable of right now is to sit back and watch things unfold no matter how much I don’t want the outcome to be what it will be. I’m reminded over and over by my husband and my past, that you cannot help those who are inept of change. It just doesn’t help shake the Feeling.

As I sit with the Feeling on my heart, I sit knowing that I am tired of being asked on my gut. I can count up to 50 phone calls within the last few weeks of a very dynamic Soap Opera playing out around me. I prefer a good sitcom but I don’t have a say. It’s not in their personalities. To dramatize everything and then when the drama is serious, the excitement is at its peak. My nature is for the calm and peaceful so I want to infuse the situation with composure and serenity. I have an idea. Let me help. Why don’t you try this instead?

~~~

My mother is sick. I have seen it coming. She’s had a disease for years that has sometimes been managed but for the most part it hasn’t. I get frustrated with her continual procrastination of something that can be slowed if not stopped. She’s walking in the Crocs of her mother. Why, if she’s seen the results, won’t she do what it takes to prevent this if not, at least do what she can? Our personalities are so different that I have always butted heads with her ways, taking every single ounce of my energy to understand her thinking. I can write a 10 page essay on my theory but it does no good if the results remain the same. I am so unlike her that I don’t understand her but I Feel her pain in the same way.

I am so frustrated, angry and saddened by so many areas that are affecting this situation. The years of denial and neglect, the continual mismanagement of a healthy lifestyle, the absence of support for her, the genuine, innocent, ignorance she brings to it all is beyond my power.

And now the results are in and it’s not good.

~~~

My SIL is dealing with a bedridden, high-risk pregnancy. Her husband is doing what he can to help her and their 11 month old daughter. He’s doing what he knows how and she is doing the only thing she can. Waiting for the twins to arrive safely. I want to help. My husband wants to help. My mom wants to help. But each of us have so many reasons why it is difficult. My beyond beautiful niece needs more than I or Glen can give her. She needs reassurance and consistency. With two other small children, my time gets very divided and my stress level tips the scale. Is that helpful or harmful and for who?

There's no one to blame. Babies go through stages. Pregnancies go through risks. Marriages go through trials. Husbands learn. Such is the way of life.

~~~

Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives: Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.

~~~

I burned my arm. It hurts. I am still here baking a pizza that won’t bake.

~sigh~ Where did my sparkly, magic wand go??

Absent Without Official Leave

Have you ever had a day/days where absolutely nothing is going in the right direction?

~BIG SIGH~

My computer has been giving me grief; one error after another. I pay a Tech guy $170 to look at it, run the same bloody scans that I already did, to tell me “it’s fine.” Get it home and three more errors pop up. It’s fine for a PC, maybe. Apple. Here. I. Come.

I paid 60$ for a website template that I can’t get to work unless I first edit it with a program that’ll cost me $399. Holy H*ll. So I’ve browsed every other template site out there and find that if I want any quality I have to pay so I’m out that original 60$ plus the dollars to either have a monthly subscription or an annual fee. I’ve tried downloading a few freebies for practice and my web host is causing me grief which leads me to think another would probably be better; then I’m out even more money. If only someone had taught me code in school. And frankly, I don’t have the patience to learn it now.

Glen and I were also headed out for a date tonight. And Holy H*ll what drama. Trying to arrange for a sitter when ((surprise!)) unexpected family come trudging along, wanting a visit with “the kids”. Well now. It’s supper time and the kids need to eat, family needs to eat, and my husband just cleaned my house while I, amongst interruptions, attempted to process pics. Geeze. Won’t anything just flow smoothly today??

Seems these days, my so called “work” day doesn’t begin till 10 o’clock at night and there’s good reason for it. Steady concentration. Well, I dunno how much concentration one can have between the hours of 10-3 a.m. but it doesn’t appear that I can get any other schedule to work. Ugh. This is going to have to change because I cannot survive on coffee alone. I don’t think I drank this much since college and only then it was to cure an active hangover. Kidding. (Believe it or not, I actually studied my buns off. Well, the second time around anyway).

My brain is powering down because I am tired of dealing with all the little things today. Seriously, 8 phone calls between family members, PC errors and a date night that’s gone AWOL. It was a perfect day outside my windows but inside, Glen and I weren’t acting much like partners and the kids were feeling the tension. Hopefully this day will get better soon.

And I’m hoping to post some pictures soon for you as well.

Cheers.

Oh Where, Oh Where Did My Luggage Go??

I had fun with this DLS exercise. Our mission was to take two vintage suitcases and use them as props in a photo shoot. I wanted to challenge myself so I chose to do still life. I find I have to use a lot of creative energy trying to evoke an emotion out of something that doesn’t normally show “emotions” (including my husband, lol).


For this shoot, I used the city as much as I could for the time I had to try to create a unique backdrop for each shot. My steadfast assistant traveled with me, braving crying babies, flash floods and tornadoes to help me get this completed. Okay, the tornado may be a slight exaggeration but the flash flood was definitely a possibility. I don’t think I’ve seen a thunderstorm like it in ages! All for the love of luggage.


At the end of it all, when the sun was well past the horizon, we took to the streets to muster up some people just for the fun of it. Brave soles.